


Harry Potter and the Wizarding Bonding Cups

by 3rdgenderfromthesun



Series: Bonding Cups [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Mates, Mild Gore, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Triwizard Tournament, Voldemort Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 09:25:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9117652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3rdgenderfromthesun/pseuds/3rdgenderfromthesun
Summary: Harry's trauma at witnessing and having to engage in violence at fourteen was offset by his hope for a future and a family. The resurrection of an old law in Wizarding Britain, put into effect to promote peace, will choose the future spouses of a generation of witches and wizards. In this way there is hope for unity as many houses that would previously never interact are politically and romantically bound. The Bonding Cups are designed to align a wizard with their perfect partner, a soul mate of sorts, though love is certainly not a guarantee. Despite his young age, Harry is forced to participate as a guide and example to the new future of the Wizarding World.This will be a series which will break off into two possible pairings for Harry. This is part 1. Future parts will be rated higher. Much higher.





	1. Chapter 1

Harry had stunned the world. When the portkey had taken him from the center of the maze the world had panicked. For days he and the Diggory lad had been searched for all across England and the entire of Britain. Dumbledore had become more haggard the longer they searched. It wasn’t until a young squib contacted the ministry that they finally had a clue where he was. Harry and Diggory were both in a muggle hospital, Harry drifting in and out of consciousness while Diggory had remained in a comatose state. They’d had no identification and nothing in the system to locate them. The squib, a doctor in training, had heard Harry screaming about Lord Voldemort while he’d been in a rare moment of clarity and had ducked into his room. Once he’d recognized the young man he’d gotten called of his parents who had quickly reached the ministry and had him tell them everything he’d seen and heard.

The Dursley’s were legally responsible for Harry but refused to be budged from their home during the school year when he was ‘Dumbledore’s problem’, so the older man took a letter they’d grudgingly signed and showed up at the hospital to claim Harry. Diggory had already been picked up by his parents who had taken him straight to St. Mungo’s to receive treatment for magical maladies. They had not been able to wake him.

Dumbledore had signed the relevant paperwork and checked Harry out, insisting he had a doctor familiar with Harry’s ‘condition’ since the staff thought he was schizophrenic. He wheeled him out, abandoned the chair, and took him quickly to St. Mungo’s where Harry stared around himself with wide eyes and simply sat down in the waiting room chair with a sudden calm he hadn’t displayed in the muggle hospital.

“Harry?” Dumbledore asked, sitting down beside him.

Harry blinked over at the man, “Why are you here?”

“Do you recognize me now?” Dumbledore asked gently.

Harry looked away, studying the hospital as the nurses and doctors rushed over with tense expressions. The Boy Who Lived had finally reappeared!

“He’s dead,” Harry told Dumbledore.

“Diggory? He’s quite alive, though in poor state,” Dumbledore replied, though the tensing of his hand had probably given away his true thoughts as Harry stared down at his gripped hand and smirked.

“Not Diggory. Voldemort. I took that diseased, putrid body and cut it into tiny pieces with a silver blade before he could be resurrected.”

Harry began to laugh and weep at once and the doctors gave Dumbledore an accusing look and swept him away while Dumbledore took a few steady breaths. Voldemort could return so long as the horcruxes remained, but he’d have to actually _use_ one to return and by then they might have found and destroyed them. The war was averted for now, and Dumbledore had hope that it would be again. For now he left Harry in the doctor’s capable hands and returned to his tower at Hogwarts to plan.

XXX

Harry had taken months in the hospital to recover, a mind healer his near constant companion. Once Diggory had awoken he had confirmed all Harry had said and added his own information. Harry and he had been stunned and tied, Harry to be sacrificed while Diggory was to be Voldemort’s sport once he was returned to his full physical strength. His goal of having a go at Diggory had been his downfall. Diggory had escaped his ropes using a trick his father had taught him as a child, gotten ahold of a wand, and freed Harry at the risk of his own life. He’d formed a distraction to allow Harry to get away, shouting that he was the hope for their future. A Killing Curse was his reward, but Harry had flown forward to defend his friend and opponent. The spell had struck his wand and exploded into a white arch. With in it, injured and shaking from the partially struck spell, Diggory had witnessed the recently dead as they’d kept the two Deatheaters at bay. Harry had wrestled Wormtail for the knife, stabbing his injured stub with it before stabbing it into the skull of the deformed Voldemort. Even then it had squirmed and fought him so he’d stabbed, chopped, and screamed in rage and fear until he was covered in black blood. The twitching remains he’d scooped into the fire beneath the cauldron with his bare hands, sobbing brokenly at the trauma of having taken a life in such a gruesome fashion. He wept also for his own future, knowing that if such brutality couldn’t end the monster than his own life would have to be forfeit if he were to destroy the hellish creature permanently.

Sadly, the moment the spell ended they were at the mercy of the remaining Deatheaters. Wormtail, with a sob at the loss of his hand to the failed potion, disapparated away from them without a single glance. The enraged Barty Crout Jr., however, leaped at them with an insane scream and Diggory was too weak to defend Harry as he passed out from the fury of the spell cast at him minutes earlier. He didn’t see what tortures Crout subjected him to, and Harry refused to discuss it for weeks. When he finally spilled it left him shaken for days but at least left them aware of Crout Jr.’s death. Harry, in a fit of desperation, had transfigured him into an insect and smashed him with a rock. It was crude but effective and explained why his remains hadn’t been found at the cemetery.

Months later Harry was returned to school with a pale, drawn expression on his face to be treated with silent respect from the rest of Gryffindor and a stony hatred from most of Slytherin. He had been in every paper throughout the world while he’d been ill but he’d avoided reading the even when Hermione brought the to him. His two closest friends never left his side, constantly on guard to protect him from retaliation… and himself. Cedric Diggory was also a constant companion, but Harry was having trouble dealing with that aspect. The young man seemed to have developed an infatuation with him after their horrid time together in the cemetery, but the event was a blurry memory for Harry. HE’d blocked so much out in order to _live_ , and live he wished to do. He’d done his duty. He’d destroyed Voldemort in a savage and grotesque way. He was done with destiny. Dumbledore had twice had him up into his office to try to talk to Harry about his future, insisting there was more work to be done but each time he brought it up Harry simply shook his head and replied with a soft ‘no’. Whatever had to be done adults could bloody well do it. Harry was _through_.

Until the remaining factions, unaware of how awful the war could have become, reared their ugly, angry heads and demanded more from the generation below them than they had any right to.


	2. Chapter 2

“Arranged marriages?” McGonagall shrieked, “Albus, of all your harebrained schemes this is the… the… _hairiest!”_

“Not to mention,” Snape drawled, “The most likely to _fail_.”

“They aren’t arranged _precisely_ ,” Dumbledore replied with a soft smile, “In fact, it was Voldemort who gave me the idea.”

“Another winning defense, to be sure,” Moody replied sharply. He’d been discovered banging and screaming inside of a chest in his rooms and revealed his kidnapping to the group. It had shed a great deal of light on the events leading to Harry and Diggory’s kidnapping.

“By utilizing the Triwizard cup we are ensuring that our children are paired with compatible witches and wizards,” Dumbledore replied with a chuckle, “It will, for many pairs, mean crossing boundaries that they would not otherwise cross. So many of our children are separated by house, privilege, and societal boundaries. Many years ago a similar cup was utilized to pair up royal children so as to create more powerful political alliances… and avoid arrogant parents matching their children with cousins to keep blood pure.”

“Certainly we could use some fresh blood in certain families,” McGonagall admitted, “However, there are _reasons_ those cups were put aside and destroyed! They bond magic, Albus, not hearts! Not all of those unions ended happily!”

“True, true,” Dumbledore nodded, “ _One_ ended poorly out of the hundreds matched throughout the centuries, but-“

“Poorly is an _understatement!_ ” Professor Binns spoke up, startling them all with his first bout of passion in… well… centuries, “The Macbeth’s led to the murder of an entire family, and then we had to obliviate hundreds of people to make the historical event boring so no one would investigate! And that damned Shakespeare _still_ wrote a play and got away with showing it off!”

“Be that as it may, one in hundreds-“ Dumbledore started sedately.

“Which would be multiplied once expanded to _thousands_!” McGonagall interrupted sharply.

It was, of course, Snape who managed to reach Dumbledore’s conscience at that time when he mentioned what no one else wanted to.

“What of Potter?” Snape asked, “You’ll not be able to enact this bill without involving him. The people will demand it. They _always_ demand sacrifice.”

“Harry’s a minor,” McGonagall argued weakly, “The wizarding legal age is seventeen.”

No one answered. Just as none had hesitated to offer him up as sacrifice to a Dark Lord there was no question that they would do the same to establish peace. It was only marriage and a bonding vow, wasn’t it? It was mostly harmless.

Mostly.

 


	3. Chapter 3

It had taken months to go through the proper channels and get the law passed, but once it had there were enough supporters on both sides that it was quickly enacted. The puritanical were eager to prove that theirs were only worthy to be bonded to others with ‘untainted’ blood. Those on the opposite side of the spectrum were excited at the prospect of their children having a certain future and leading the world as it took a step towards peace and acceptance of all. Unwed people from ages seventeen to twenty-five were signed up to ‘Marry the Future’. However, not everyone was interested in having their spouse selected for them, even at the promise of them being a perfect match. The law was mandatory without a reprieve directly from the ministry and with the influx of demand for court dates a separate panel had to be established to address all of their concerns.

Predictably, in the same breath that people were finding ways to opt out via sudden engagements and court releases, they were also demanding that one young man step forward before he’d even reached the age of maturity. Harry Potter’s name was passed around on petition after petition, demanding that he lead the way for his generation by placing his _own_ name in the cup.

Harry was slowly healing, so he was reading the papers again and aware of the demands about to be made on him. When McGonagall approached him with her face twisted into a false smile and suggested that his true love might be waiting for him he didn’t even begrudge her the manipulation. He just lined up at the Ministry’s nearest portal, accepted the slip that allowed him to cross the age line, and dropped his name into a burning cup. Three months later he waited in the Burrow with the Weasley’s for their school lists to arrive. With Voldemort out of the equation he’d flat out refused to return to the Dursley’s and had even spent a night curled up in an alley before Dumbledore gave in and the Weasley’s were able to collect him. He’d reminded them that he could just go to the bank and get a place to live if _someone_ would sign off on it, but they’d insisted he stay with them. _We’ll be your family now. Even after you’re bonded and married._ Mrs. Weasley had turned a bit teary eyed at that, clearly angry with Dumbledore and the Ministry. She had been staunchly against the act, but hadn’t managed to find excuses for her children. Percy and the twins were going to the ceremony with Harry after their shopping trip to Diagon Alley. Harry had overheard Mrs. Weasley’s worries that their new bonded partners might talk them out of their education and was adamants that they’d get their Newts done and graduate. All of them. Harry had stepped into the kitchen after Mr. Weasley had gone to work and pressed a kiss to her cheek, grateful for her stubborn support. She’d burst into tears and hugged him tightly, promising to always be there for him no matter who he ended up with.

“They’re supposed to be my perfect match,” Harry reminded her, “What could go wrong?”

“Don’t say that, mate,” Fred had groused, entering the kitchen for breakfast with his hair a mess. Mrs. Weasley went to fuss over him so george chimed in.

“You know that’s what people always say _right before something goes wrong.”_

“The pairs,” Hermione informed as she stepped in with her nose in a book, “Will be selected magically, and no one’s confunded anything this time. Harry will end up with the love of his life or so help me...”

Hermione slammed the book down on the table and glared around at anyone, daring them to deny her words. Fred raised his orange juice in a silent salute, his eyes wide with shock and amusement. George was nodding with narrowed eyes while Percy simply rolled his and picked up an apple.

“This is all ridiculous. The ministry has _everyone’s_ best interests at heart! This will settle the entire country down. Everyone is expected to produce or adopt a child within a two year period, so once we’re all happily married and raising children who will have time for war?”

“Did you memorize that or were you the one who wrote the posters plastered all over Diagon Alley?” Ron snarled, “Harry’s too young for this. I’ll be too young for this _next year_ , for fuck’s sake-“

“Ron! Language!” Mrs. Weasley scolded, hitting him with a napkin before placing it beside his plate of bangers and mash.

“Don’t worry, Ron,” Hermione rolled her eyes, “I’m sure you and… someone… will be a perfect match.”

Hermione’s cheeks went red and Ron ducked his head while Harry rolled his eyes. He’d missed so much school that he’d spent the summer taking remedial classes by mail so he could be in the same year as his friends. Now he was headed to his fifth year and the notorious OWL exams. And he’d be married. At fifteen. Married and expected to be a father within two more years. Mrs. Weasley had tried to have that part put off but the Ministry was loath to do so. They wanted to see who his spouse was first, they said. Harry suspected they were just putting her off in the hopes that Harry would carry out the act without prompting. He’d heard more than a few of his housemates make jokes about Harry being allowed to have all the sex he wanted. The teens his age and younger were _jealous_ , and their snickering outlook was giving him a bit of hope for his future. It would be nice to be loved and to have an official family. He knew his parents had had him at a young age, though not quite so young, and he was envisioning himself as James and his future wife as Lily. He pictured raising their grandchild the way they’d have wanted to raise Harry. He wasn’t as focused on the sex part, having little experience with it. He was too confused and frightened for that. He just wanted the _bond_.

OWL study guides and his class books were overwhelming that year. Harry vowed he would study hard and make himself into a proper adult, giving his everything to the future and his children. Harry hoped his future wife would want more than one. He wanted a clan like the Weasley’s had.

Once all his books had been bought Mrs. Weasley shrunk them down for him and he tucked them into his pocket. He crooked his arm into Percy’s and the young man gave him a solid nod before pulling him into a side-along apparition. Harry felt the unfamiliar tug at his navel and then they were there, his head spinning as he stood outside of the huge stadium where he’d last seen the Quidditch World Cup. They planned to read off the results in sections, using magic to section off the masses into age groups so they could move swiftly through the results. It was expected to take the entire week but no one knew when a name would be called so it was necessary to be present each day between set times, with breaks for lunch, tea, and supper. Harry was bored an hour later, just listening absently for his name. By three hours later they’d had to start reminding people to _listen for their names_ , because it was far too dull to keep attention. By tea time he’d He’d had Percy unshrink his books and was studying because _that_ was actually less boring than hearing name after name called. There wasn’t even an excited twittering. In many cases people either knew each other and were excited/angry or didn’t and were shocked into silence.

It was on the third day that Harry’s name was called and he froze in shock as the ministry official, a sonorous charm elevating his voice, to announce his pairing with the last person he’d ever expected to spend even a moment of quality time with.

XXX

This is where I break off to the next part of the series. My plan is to write TWO stories with my two favorite ‘bad guy’ pairings, while making the usual justifications as to why Harry should fall in love with them, why it’s not naughty, etc and so forth. I’ll try to keep it fresh seeing as how I’m writing it because I didn’t get what I wanted out of stories I’ve read. Do me a favor and don’t bash my writing, please. I’ll just stop rather than see things your way, I can promise you that. Corrections are welcome, of course. I usually publish completed works to avoid the nonsense of having to justify my FREE stories to others, but this is going to be a bit extensive so breaking it up is just best.


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